TY - JOUR
T1 - Observing 'quantized' conductance steps in silver sulfide
T2 - Two parallel resistive switching mechanisms
AU - Wagenaar, J.J.T.
AU - Morales-Masis, M.
AU - Van Ruitenbeek, J.M.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - We demonstrate that it is possible to distinguish two conductance switching mechanisms in silver sulfide devices at room temperature. Experiments were performed using a Ag2S thin film deposited on a wide Ag bottom electrode, which was contacted by the Pt tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. By applying a positive voltage on the silver electrode, the conductance is seen to switch to a state having three orders of magnitude higher conductance, which is related to the formation of a conductive path inside the Ag2S thin film. We argue this to be composed of a metallic silver nanowire accompanied by a modification of the surrounding lattice structure. Metallic silver nanowires decaying after applying a negative voltage allow observing conductance steps in the breaking traces characteristic for atomic-scale contacts, while the lattice structure deformation is revealed by gradual and continuously decreasing conductance traces.
AB - We demonstrate that it is possible to distinguish two conductance switching mechanisms in silver sulfide devices at room temperature. Experiments were performed using a Ag2S thin film deposited on a wide Ag bottom electrode, which was contacted by the Pt tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. By applying a positive voltage on the silver electrode, the conductance is seen to switch to a state having three orders of magnitude higher conductance, which is related to the formation of a conductive path inside the Ag2S thin film. We argue this to be composed of a metallic silver nanowire accompanied by a modification of the surrounding lattice structure. Metallic silver nanowires decaying after applying a negative voltage allow observing conductance steps in the breaking traces characteristic for atomic-scale contacts, while the lattice structure deformation is revealed by gradual and continuously decreasing conductance traces.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84855919897&partnerID=MN8TOARS
U2 - 10.1063/1.3672824
DO - 10.1063/1.3672824
M3 - Article
SN - 0021-8979
VL - 111
JO - Journal of Applied Physics
JF - Journal of Applied Physics
IS - 1
M1 - 014302
ER -